StationPlaylist.com

Frequently Asked Questions

More detailed information is available in the full online help documentation included with the trial editions of the software, available from the Download page.

Creator Questions

What does Creator do?
Why should I use Creator?
What is Voice Tracking?
How do Intro's & Outro's work?
What is a Category?
What is a Spot Group?
What is a Rotation?
What is a Schedule?

How do I schedule advertisements?

Why are some songs repeated close to each other when there are lots of tracks to choose from?
How do I schedule the extra hour for daylight saving to Standard Time?
What does the Playlist Scheduler do?

Studio Questions

What does Studio do?
Why should I use Studio and not a free media player?
Does Studio keep a track of played advertisements for billing?
Why are spots not showing with the red dot icon?
Why are break notes not working?
Why are timed events not activating?
Why are some songs and spots fading out too early?
Can I use 3rd party scheduler with Studio?
How do I add Winamp plugins to Studio?
How do I stream on the Internet with Studio?

Why is there a delay in the Mic audio when using the Mic button?
How do I use my mixer console for Internet only broadcasting?
Why do I receive DirectSound Buffer Underuns in the log?
Does Studio have multiple player decks?
Can I send twitter updates with Studio?
Can I have a music bed play under a dry spot?

General Software Questions

How do I configure SPL for satellite feeds and local advertisements?
How do I move my software to a new computer?

Can I play a music bed under a voice track?
How do I run 2 or more stations on the same PC?

Stream Hosting Questions

What is live streaming?
Why do I need your services?
Why do I need a distribution server?
Which stream codec should I choose?
Which bitrate should I choose?
How do I have my stream play from my website?
How can I display what song is playing on my website?

Creator Answers

What does Creator do?

Creator is a music/spot scheduler.  It basically selects audio files based on your specifications and writes the filenames to playlist files.  Playlists are usually generated daily or weekly.

The structure of the playlist files may be altered to suit the audio player application that will be reading them.  Playlist files may be loaded into audio players such as Winamp, Windows Media Player etc, or loaded by proper radio broadcasting playout software, including our own Studio software.
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Why should I use Creator?

With Creator, you are able to design the structure of every hour of the day.  Hourly rotations are defined by selecting a mixture of music categories and spot groups.  Each category may be a different genre of music, tempo, age, etc, so you can, for example, inhibit two fast rock 90's songs from playing consecutively.

Different days of the week, or hours of the day, often require a different format.  Once the structure has been defined, Creator can generate playlists week after week with no maintenance required, unless spots such as advertisements need to be added or removed.

Creator can also schedule spot groups (advertisements, jingles, stations ID's etc) to play at specific times when used with compatible playback/automation software, such as StationPlaylist Studio.

Creator has many other features such as • song and artist repeat protection so the same songs, or songs by the same artist are not played too close together • creates an interactive web based playlist for the entire week for your DJ's or listeners to see what's coming up • generates a summary of all selected songs for royalty payment purposes • and a summary of spots for billing purposes • and many more features (see the Products page).
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What is Voice Tracking?

Voice Tracking (only available in Creator Pro) provides a way to easily and quickly record and insert voice announcements into the playlist at manual or pre-determined positions in the playlist.  This makes your station sound live when unattended.

Voice tracking provides a way for a DJ to pre-record an entire show within a few minutes, allowing more time to do other things, or simply leave the studio.

StationPlaylist Studio Pro supports playing voice tracks simultaneously with the beginning of the next song, so this combination provides a seamless "live" show for the listener.
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How do Voice Intro's and Outro's work?

Voice Intro's and Outro's may be recorded for individual songs or artists.  When a song is selected, an optional intro or outro matching the song or artist may be accompanied in the selection.  This feature initially requires some investment in time to record the announcements, but the station can sound live in an automated situation with no voice tracking required.

As with Voice Tracking (above), Voice Intro's may also be overlapped with the beginning the of song when using Studio Pro for the playback automation software.
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What is a Category?

A Category is a list of music audio files which are related to a particular genre, tempo, age, or whatever criteria you like.  The more categories that are defined, the more control you have over the structure of each hour (rotation).

Category items (tracks) are generally selected in a random order, whereas spot group items are generally selected sequentially (alphabetically).

Audio files may be selected individually for each category, or a folder on the hard drive allocated to a category. There are advantages and disadvantages of both methods, discussed in the Getting Started tutorial in Creator's documentation.

Categories are used in rotations.
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What is a Spot Group?

A Spot Group is usually a group of jingles, advertisements, or a group of station ID's etc.  They are also often used for lengthy programmes such as a weekly programme of pre-recorded talk shows, etc.

Unlike Categories, Spot Group items (tracks) may be selected sequentially in a specific order or alphabetical order.

Like Categories, Spot Groups may be added to rotations, but may also be set up as Timed Events where they are scheduled for a specific time.
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What is a Rotation?

A rotation is made up of a list of categories and spot groups which add up to roughly 60 minutes of play time.  Here is a shortened example of a possible rotation:

Station ID (spot group)
New Music (category)
Pop Slow (category)
Ad - CD Warehouse (spot group)
Station ID (spot group)
Pop Fast (category)
Male Rock (category)
$20 ads (spot group)
$20 ads (spot group)
Station ID (spot group)
Pop Slow (category)
Female Rock (category)
etc

When a playlist is created, an item is generally selected in a random order from each category, and sequentially from each spot group.  Many different rotations may be defined for different hours of the day.  The hours and days where a rotation will be used is defined in a schedule.  Other types of entries are also possible in a rotation such as voice track markers and break notes.
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What is a Schedule?

A schedule defines which rotations will be used in each of the 24 hours of a day.  Multiple schedules may be created for different days of the week, or one schedule may be used for all 7 days.  Multiple schedules provide for different music formats or programs on different days of the week.
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How do I schedule advertisements?

Creator is primarily a music and jingle scheduler.  It is not specifically designed to schedule commercials, although many smaller stations successfully use Creator to schedule commercials.

Traffic schedulers are dedicated to scheduling commercials and often provide a client billing facility.  These can save a lot of time, particularly when many advertisers are involved, and when each client wants their ads scheduled at specific times of the day.

Creator Pro integrates with 3rd party traffic schedulers. One example is Admaster. See the Traffic Log Importer chapter in Creator's documentation, under the Playlist Editor chapter.

Users often adopt their own system of scheduling commercials with Creator.  Here are some of them.

Random Method

This method can be the easiest to setup and manage, providing you have a limited range of advertising packages, and advertisers do not dictate when their ads will be scheduled.

Place all the commercials in one large folder on the hard drive and create one spot group for this folder. Set the Sort Type to Randomly.

If you have say 2 or 3 different advertising packages with a different amount of placements per day, create 2 or 3 spot groups instead of 1.

Now schedule the spot group in your rotation(s).  For example, if you have 4 advertisements that need to be played 6 times over a 12 hour period, 2 ads per hour must be scheduled in the rotation...

6 Per Day Ads
6 Per Day Ads
Station ID

This method is very easy to set up and manage provided the number of ads in each spot group are kept at a constant number.  When an advertisement finishes, either add a new advertisement to replace it, or add a fill in jingle or ad for your own programmes.  This does not then require changes to the rotations.

But If additional ads need to be added to this group, the rotation will need to be modified to include an extra ad per hour (to handle 6 advertisers), or a new commercial break at a different time of the hour.

Only a small number of rotations may be required using this method, perhaps only 1 rotation, and the spot group, rotations, and schedules should not need regular adjustments from day to day.

Block Method

This method requires one spot group for each commercial break.  This provides full control over what is played when, and allows the number of commercials in the commercial break to vary from one day to the next, without the need to adjust the rotations or schedules on a regular basis.

In this method, a set of files are usually individually added to each spot group associated with a commercial break.  Set the Spot Group Type to Block.

To schedule the ads in the precise order specified, set the Sort option to Per Folder/Unsorted.  Otherwise Randomly is a good option if you intend to use the same set of commercials in other commercial breaks during the day.

Add the Spot Group once to a rotation to schedule all the ads at once.

This method will often require a rotation for each hour that you advertise.  If this is 24 hours a day, then you may need 24 rotations, unless some commercial breaks are to be repeated.

Adjustments to each commercial break spot group  or folder may be required every day to ensure the same commercials are not always played together in the same break.

Some operators use a spreadsheet to design what ads should be played and when, and the files moved into the required spot groups every day, for the following days playlist.

Individual Method

In this method, a spot group is created for each advertiser.  The spot group is then placed in the specific desired locations in many rotations.

This method also requires up to 24 rotations for unique placements every hour.

Adjustments to each rotation is likely to be required every day to ensure the same commercials are not played in the same order every time.

Some operators use a spreadsheet to design what ads should be played and when, and the rotations modified every day, for the following days playlist.

Manual Method

If only a few commercials are to be played, the Playlist Editor facility in Creator can be used to simply insert the files into any position in any hour of the generated playlist.  The Playlist Editor supports drag & drop from a Windows folder, or use the Insert dialog.
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Why are some songs repeated close to each other when there are lots of tracks to choose from?

This can usually only occur if there are too many separation rules, or they are set too high.

When a category is created, the tracks are shuffled into a random order and selection starts from the top of the list and works its way to the bottom without repeating any tracks.

You can see the current order the tracks will be selected on the Track List page in Creator.  The shaded tracks are those that have been selected so far in this order, and the unshaded are yet to be selected.

The order of the tracks and the current position in the list is stored permanently during a Save All. When Creator is loaded again to create more playlists, selection starts from where it left off last time.

When the last track is selected in a category, the track list is semi-shuffled into a new order where the tracks selected more recently are placed near the bottom of the order, and selection starts from the top again. After 2 runs through the track list, every track will have been selected twice.

For a large category containing hundreds of tracks, a Song Separation of 6 to 9 hours will usually have very few listeners hear the same song repeat on the same day, or if they do, they won't mind. And of course you need an Artist Separation also of perhaps 3 hours.

Smaller categories may need shorter or fewer separation rules, depending on how often the category is used.

Tracks skipped over due to separation rules are retried several times before reaching the end of the category. If the separation rules are set too high, there is a higher risk of never being able to select some tracks in the current order, so we recommend the separation is set as low as possible.

After the reshuffle, any tracks that could not be selected in the last track list, even after being retried several times (due to excessive separation rules), will be moved to the top of the new track list so they have the most chance of being selected while traversing the new list.

The default Song and Artist Separation is set on the Separation Rules page. Individual categories can override this and have their own separation rules set in Category Properties.
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How do I schedule the extra hour for daylight saving to Standard Time?

Firstly we should mention the reverse situation where Standard Time becomes Daylight Time in the Spring. In this situation, StationPlaylist Studio will simply skip the hour that is lost provided there are no timed events in the skipped hour.  If there are timed events, these will be played before jumping to the next hours playlist.

In the Autumn, there are a few solutions, manual and automated, to add the extra hour of programming.

Method 1: If you do nothing, and are using StationPlaylist Studio for automation, and have Studio set For Short Hours: Insert Top Up Tracks, Studio will insert random tracks from the Top Up Folder for the extra hour.  If Top Up Tracks is disabled, Studio will repeat the hours playlist.

Method 2: Create playlists in advance to include the Sunday that switches to Standard Time, then in the Playlist Editor, edit the hours playlist that becomes 2 hours long (1am in USA) and manually add an extra hour of tracks after the existing tracks. Also required is a *H0 break note code at the top of the playlist, and a *H1 (or *H2) somewhere after the 1 hour position.  Studio will play the entire 2 hour playlist.

Method 3: Create a 2 hour 10 minute rotation in Creator. Uncheck the Time Checking checkbox so Creator does select at least 2 hours of tracks. Add a *H0 break note code to the top, and *H1 (or *H2) break note somewhere after the 1 hour position.  Attach that rotation to the relevant time slot in the Sunday Schedule Properties (01:00 in USA). This requires that a separate Schedule for Sundays is available.  That is, a Schedule with only the Sunday checkbox ticked.

Keep this rotation to reuse every 12 months when required.

Method 3a: You may create a new Sunday Schedule whether you have one currently or not. Right-click an existing Schedule and select Copy to create a duplicate. Rename it to Sunday Standard Time for example. Attach the 2 hour rotation to the relevant time slot permanently.

You only need to tick the Sunday checkbox in this Schedule before creating a playlist that includes Sunday. Remember to tick Sunday on the original Schedule afterwards though.

Method 3b: 3a above may be automated. We'll include the requirements for the USA but this should be possible for other countries.

Tick the Sunday checkbox permanently in the Schedule. On the Advanced tab, set the following:

Start Year: (blank)
Start Month: November
Start Day: 1

Finish Day: 7
Finish Month: November
Finish Year: (blank)

This Schedule will now automatically activate only on the first Sunday of November every year. Any other schedule with the Sunday checkbox ticked will be ignored for this one day of the year.

Note: Instant Timed Events scheduled in the 2 hour rotation or the next hours rotation will cause problems and methods 2 and 3 will not work.
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What does the Playlist Scheduler do?

StationPlaylist Scheduler (included in the Creator package) is a small system tray application which loads hourly playlists into a simple audio player (preferably Winamp) every hour.  This provides a very basic and budget automation solution where the power of Studio and other automation / live DJ assistance applications are not required.

The Scheduler is also able to load Creator every day or week to automatically generate a new set of playlists, for unattended automation.
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Studio Answers

What does Studio do?

Studio is basically a sophisticated audio player with special features that radio stations need.

Studio is most often used to automatically load playlist files every hour, and play the audio files in an automatic or live assistance (manual) mode, as scheduled by Creator or other music scheduling software.

Studio is most useful with a music scheduler, however, Studio can also be used without a scheduler, where tracks are inserted manually for doing live shows.
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Why should I use Studio and not a free media player?

Winamp and other simple media players are only suitable for very basic automation requirements.  Studio provides many advantages for automation, such as

• Includes an intelligent automatic crossfading system which works very well with 99% of all tracks, but for those that need tweaking, it supports manual cue and segue positions on individual tracks.
• Take news or external feeds at specific times for a specific duration via line input and internet streams.
• Voice tracks can be overlapped with song ramps to simulate a live DJ talk-overs while automated.
• Timed Events may be played at precise times.
• A personalized Now Playing web page can be incorporated into your website.
• Automated time and temperature announcement files can be played.
• Play will begin at the scheduled position in the playlist after a power failure.
• Studio can be scheduled to stop playing for certain hours of the day.
• and many more features.

However, Studio is also valuable in assisting DJ's/presenters/announcers with their live shows.
• Instant jingles (carts) can be easily played at any time.
• the carts can be displayed as buttons to press (mouse/touch screen, or keyboard shortcuts).
• announcement breaks can be planned ahead of time.
• a number of tracks can be selected to play sequentially and then stop for a live announcement.
• easily preview upcoming tracks with a second soundcard.
• automatically lower the music volume while over-talking with the mic.
• the mic can be toggled automatically when play starts and stops.
• the line-in mixer can be controlled directly from Studio with optional fade.
• easily insert requested songs by searching the song library with a portion of an artist and/or title.
• and many more features.  See the Products page for more details.
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Does Studio keep a track of played advertisements for billing?

Studio Pro can generate a detailed CSV log file of every spot played.  This file can be loaded directly into a spreadsheet and filtered to produce spot summaries for advertisement billing purposes.  Studio can also record each song played for royalty recording purposes.
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Why are spots not showing with the red dot icon?
Why are Break Notes not working?
Why are timed events not activating?

If you are using Creator to generate the playlists, the Playlist Format option in Creator needs to be changed to the StationPlaylist Studio selection.  This is necessary for Studio to recognize spots, break notes, and timed events.  This option is on the Playlist Options tab.
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Why are some songs and spots fading out too early?

Studio provides an intelligent automatic crossfading system.  This starts the next track playing when the last peak volume of the current track drops below -17 decibels at the default setting.  This system works very well for most tracks, but in some cases, manual adjustments may be required.  There are several solutions.
  • Manually specify a segue position for a track.  This can be done in the Track Tool available from Creator and Studio.  Or use Track Properties and set the Segue position to 0.  This will play the entire track with no crossfading.
  • Adjust the automatic crossfade parameters on the Input options tab.  Change the Segue DB setting to say -20db.  All tracks will fade out to a lower volume before the next track starts.
  • Apply some waveform compression to spots so that the volume is reasonably consistent throughout the track.  This can be done using an audio editor.
  • Turn off crossfading for all spots.  This is an option on the Input options tab.  Note that spots will still crossfade if a manual Segue position has been established for an individual track.

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Can I use a 3rd party Scheduler with Studio?

Yes.  Studio can read standard M3U playlists which some schedulers can generate, however, to use some of the advanced features of Studio, a special playlist format is required which only Creator natively supports.  The advanced features include support for timed events, break notes, and voice track overlapping.

However, StationPlaylist Creator has a Music Log Importer feature for importing fixed column daily log files and creating the required playlists for Studio.
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How do I add Winamp plugins to Studio?

Studio can utilize Winamp DSP plugins for such things as audio compression/limiting and internet streaming.  Copy the dsp_xxx.dll file to the StationPlaylist\Engine\Plugins folder.  Some DSPs have supporting files which also need to be copied to either the Engine or Plugins folder.

Studio also supports some Winamp General plugins, which are installed to the StationPlaylist\Studio\Plugins folder.
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How do I stream on the Internet with Studio?

Studio comes with a stream encoder implemented as a DSP plugin.  This supports WMA, MP3, AAC+, and Ogg Vorbis stream encoding for Icecast, Shoutcast v1, Shoutcast v2, and Windows Media servers.  Enable SPL Encoder on the Mixer tab in the Output options page.

See the Internet Streaming chapter in Studio's help documentation for more details.
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Why is there a delay in the Mic audio when using the Mic button?

Studio records the Mic audio from the soundcards recording device digitally, optionally processes the audio using compressor/limiter DSP plugins, and then outputs the audio to the soundcards output device via Windows DirectSound.  DirectSound requires buffering to prevent stuttering in the audio playback.  At the default settings, the output Buffer Size is 500ms and the input Buffer Size is 175ms, so the delay is at least 675ms.  On super fast PC's which have no other applications running, and certain soundcards, it may be possible to use an output Buffer Size of 200ms and an input Buffer Size of 125ms, but that is still too high for monitoring in headphones.

There is an option to use ASIO audio output.  ASIO uses very small buffers to reduce latency significantly. High-end soundcards come with ASIO drivers. For other soundcards, ASIO4ALL may be installed, which works for most soundcards. You will find ASIO in the Output options / Mixer tab / Device drop down box if one is available.

The best solution is to not use Studio's Mic system at all, and install a hardware mixer for all external audio including microphones.  These have headphone monitoring capability with no delay.

Another solution is to use the Audio Monitor system in Studio.  This is configured in the Output options / Mixer tab.  If a separate soundcard is installed, Studio can send all audio excluding the Mic audio to this device. Therefore no delay or echo is heard in the headphones.

For Internet broadcasters with one soundcard, there are settings in the Mic Input options which can switch to the Monitor and back again when the Mic is activated, without affecting the internet stream.  Check the checkboxes "Toggle Monitor" and "Mute Mixer".

A mixture of the 2 methods above is possible with some mixer consoles and discussed in the next FAQ below.
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How do I use my mixer console for Internet only broadcasting?

Traditional use of a mixer console has the output from Studio, along with microphones and any other audio sources such as record players, enter the console, and the output from the console is sent to a transmitter or encoded to a stream using a standalone stream encoder such as our Streamer app.  This requires the console to be switched on 24/7.

An alternative method makes use of Studio's Mic Input and Audio Monitor features. The console needs to support monitoring an input channel (from Studio) but not sending this audio mixed into the microphone output. SPL Encoder within Studio's DSP is used instead of Streamer.

If the console has a USB soundcard built in, you may not need audio cables from the consoles mic output to the Line-In jack of a soundcard, or the Line-Out of the soundcard to a console input.

In Studio's Output options / Mixer tab, select an output Monitor Device on the right, usually the same as the Device on the left.  The Audio Monitor excludes the mic audio being sent to the output so you don't hear yourself echoed in your headphones.

In Studio's Input options / Mic Input tab, check the following checkboxes - Enable Mic Button, Toggle Monitor, and Mute Mixer, and select the correct sound input Device.

Click the Mic button in Studio to talk.

This method also allows the same soundcard to be used for voice tracking. Select Mute in Studio's Controls menu. The audio playing in Studio will still be sent to the stream.
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Why do I receive DirectSound Buffer Underuns in the log?

This usually means the computer is not able to decode the audio file fast enough to play it without disruption. It may be due to an underpowered CPU, or the soundcard requires larger buffering. In this case increasing the DirectSound buffer size should help.  This may be done while play is stopped in the Output options / Buffer Size setting.
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Does Studio have multiple player decks?

Yes and no.  We decided to not go down the path of emulating multiple CD decks. We realize some DJ's prefer a more hands on approach, or have become accustomed to manually starting and fading multiple players with other broadcasting software, but we wanted to automate everything as much as possible without the need to manually control multiple players.

Studio internally utilizes 5 audio file players, 2 for the main player for songs and spots with crossfading, 1 voice track player, and 2 cart players. The software takes care of all mixing and volume reductions while overlapping etc in automation mode.

The 2 main players may be output to independent sound devices.  When this is done, Studio will not artificially fade tracks playing while in live assistance mode.  This effectively works like 2 player decks which can be controlled manually in an external mixer.  The voice track player and cart player can also be output to independent sound devices on the Output options page if desired.

The cart system may be used for overlapping tracks playing in the main player.  This supports loading up to 96 individual tracks, usually used for backing music, jingles, and sound effects. As mentioned, this can be output to a different sound output device for manual mixing if required.
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Can I send twitter updates with Studio?

It is possible via the commercial service Auto Post along with the API included in Studio's the Now Playing options / Stream metadata tab / Output via HTTP Request.
Alternatively, if you are streaming to a Shoutcast or Icecast server, www.marci.io is another method.
Otherwise a website script developer could create a twitter post script to upload to your website, and Studio can call this script with song details in URL parameters at every change of song.
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Can I have a music bed play under a dry spot?

Yes. Load the music bed tracks into the Track Tool, set Fixed Crossfade, and set a Segue position at the time you want the dry spot to start, eg. 1.0 seconds.  Insert the music beds as a Normal spot.  Insert the dry spot after the music bed as a Voice Intro spot.  The music bed will start first followed by the dry spot over the top.  The music bed will stop when the next non-Voice Intro track starts playing.
Note that the music bed will not be faded by Studio so will need to be at a low volume in the audio file to prevent it drowning out the dry spot.
Note also that "Crossfade Voice Tracks" needs to be enabled in Studio's Input options, otherwise the music bed will not stop playing.
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General Answers

How do I configure SPL for satellite feeds and local advertisements?

We will assume in this example that traffic software will be used for scheduling the commercials.  Creator will be used for scheduling both the satellite feeds and importing the traffic log.  See the Traffic Log Importer chapter in Creator's documentation, under the Playlist Editor chapter.

The above chapter instructs you to insert commercial break notes into your rotations.  Each commercial break is given a Minute value which must match the minute value of the commercials in the traffic log.

In Rotation Properties, click the Insert Break Note button. Tick the Commercial Break checkbox. Enter a Minute value.

The same rotation will need a break note for the satellite feeds.  For example, if you have 2 commercial breaks an hour, your rotation may look something like this...

Station ID (spot group)
1500: Satellite Feed (break note)
*Comm Break=20 (break note)
Station ID
1500: Satellite Feed
*Comm Break=40
Station ID
1500: Satellite Feed

The 1500 specifies the maximum number of seconds the satellite feed would ever need to play solidly for before a commercial break is triggered. This needs to be longer than you will ever need. In this case 1500 seconds (25 minutes) has been specified.

A duration only needs to be set for the satellite feed, not the commercial breaks.

A closure tells Studio to stop playing the line input feed and start the next track in the playlist.  The duration is only used if no trigger is detected.  Triggers include TCP or serial port commands, or contact closures from a satellite receiver, or a low frequency tone in the audio detected by our Tone Detector plugin (sold separately).

Contact closures are configured in Studio's Communications options, and supports the PIP protocol used in Broadcast Tools devices and this less expensive capatible device.  See the Communications chapter in Studio's documentation for more details.

If using Creator to schedule the commercial breaks rather than traffic software, simply exchange the *Comm Break notes for Spot Groups.

Uncheck the Time Checking checkbox in the Rotation Properties.  You may need more than 1 rotation if a different number of commercial breaks are required at different times of the day.

We recommend the audio from the satellite receiver or switch device is comnected to the Line-In jack of the soundcard.  Studio can switch this audio on and off while the 1500: satellite Feed break note is executing.  To do this you need to set an option in Studio's Input / Line Input tab. Tick the checkbox Break Note Line-In Control and set the correct sound Device.
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How do I move my software to a new computer?

The Creator & Studio license terms permit 2 current installations at the same premises for supporting the same station/service, so if you have only one current installation, you may install the software on a new computer before uninstalling from the current one if you wish.  If you already have 2 computers running the software, one of them will need to be uninstalled first. This will not lose any configuration data.

Uninstall Creator if possible. Take a copy of the folder named Backup under C:\Program Files (x86)\StationPlaylist or similar.

To install on the new PC, all you need are the installation programs you downloaded at the time of purchase, and the registration details provided in the purchase emails (serial numbers and 20 digit codes).  If you don't have the installation programs or registration details stored somewhere safe, we can provide these if you have a current support & updates subscription.

Once you enter the serial number and code for Creator and Studio, the software will display an unlock window asking for an unlock key. If the PC has internet access, click the Apply button and an unlock key will be emailed to you.

After installing and unlocking the software, exit Studio and load Creator.  Copy the Backup folder mentioned above to the Windows Desktop, for example, on the new PC.  Do not copy the folder directly to the new StationPlaylist folder as that will remove write access folder permissions.  Then on the Tools menu, select Restore Data and select the old Backup folder.  This will transfer configuration settings and options for Creator, and also Studio, Streamer, and VT Server if they were installed on the same PC.

This will not transfer any existing logs, playlists, or voice tracks. These files need to be manually copied from/to the subfolders Logs, Playlist, and VoiceTracks.  Only copy the files and not the folders themselves, as that will remove write access folder permissions.

If the audio files are on the local computer, it is best to copy them to the identical folder structures on the new computer before installing the software.  If the drive letter or folder structure is not identical, while Creator is loading, answer "No To All" to prevent the tracks being removed from the categories.  On the Tools menu select "Category Path Replacement".  Here you can replace a path or portion of a path in all categories and spot groups.
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Can I play a music bed under a voice track?

Yes. Schedule or insert a "Normal" spot above the voice intro spot or voice track in the playlist. Load this spot in Track Properties. On the Timing tab, tick the checkbox "Fixed Crossfade". Enter 1.0 in the Segue Time.  The music bed will start for 1 second followed by the voice track.

In Studio you need "Crossfade Voice Tracks" enabled in the Input options / Voice Tracks tab.

Studio will not reduce the volume of the music bed and it will need to be edited or recorded at a low volume to not drown out the voice track.
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How do I run 2 or more stations on the same PC?

You firstly need to have purchased a license for each station. The licensing terms strictly require a separate license/serial number for each station and the software will enforce this. We offer good discounts for additional licenses.

  1. Run the Creator and Studio installation programs for the first station normally.
  2. Rename the Desktop icons for the 2 programs to reflect the station name.
  3. Run the Creator and Studio installation programs again for the 2nd station and enter a different install folder. The default folder is C:\Program Files (x86)\StationPlaylist or similar. The 2nd station could be installed to C:\Program Files (x86)\StationPlaylist2 for example.
  4. You are asked for the Windows Start Menu folder which defaults to “StationPlaylist”. Change the 2nd one to “StationPlaylist 2” for example.
  5. Rename the new Desktop icons to reflect the 2nd station name.
  6. Repeat items 3 through 5 for additional stations.
  7. In each Studio, on the View menu select Change User and enter a name for the station. This appears in the title bar, and taskbar, and system tray icons for Studio and SPL Encoder so you can easily determine which is which.

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Stream Hosting Answers

What is live streaming?

Live streaming involves encoding the audio produced on your PC to a stream format, which is then uploaded continuously to a stream distribution server which listeners connect to.  The audio is usually produced by radio automation software, such as StationPlaylist.  Live audio from microphones can be included just like an AM/FM radio station.

The alternative to live streaming is on-demand streaming, where you upload your audio files to a hosting company.  We do not provide this service.
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Why do I need your services?

Each listener to a stream uses internet bandwidth. We provide the bandwidth usually at a much lower cost than your ISP can provide. You could install your own stream distribution server software, but most internet connections have limited data per month, or unreliable upload speeds some times of the day which will limit the number of listeners that can listen reliably.
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Why do I need a distribution server?

The audio is encoded to a stream at your place, but listeners cannot listen to this stream.  It must be uploaded continuously to a distribution server which makes the single stream available to multiple listeners.  This is the Icecast software we install and configure for you on our server computers.
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Which stream codec should I choose?

There are advantages and disadvantages for using different codecs.  A number of stations provide 2 codecs to gain the advantages of both.  For example, an AAC+ stereo stream and a MP3 mono stream.  Also see the next question "Which bitrate should I choose?".

AAC+ Advantages:  This codec is the newest and provides the best sound quality of all codecs at bitrates of 64k and below.  Even at 32k, the sound is very pleasant in stereo with adequate treble, and excellent for listeners with limited bandwidth.  A 64kb/s stream provides very good stereo quality.

Most audio players and browsers can play AAC+ streams.

AAC+ Disadvantages:  Being the newest codec, some audio players and browsers can't play this format, although that number is dwindling every day.

MP3 Advantages:  Being the oldest codec, it has the most player support.  Almost every audio player supports playing MP3 streams.  It is compatible with Shoutcast and Icecast servers, Flash media players, and HTML5 media players including smart phones and tablets.

MP3 Disadvantages:  Being the oldest codec, it produces the worst sound quality of all codecs.  A higher bitrate (at a higher cost) must be used to provide a reasonable sound quality.

Ogg Vorbis Advantages:  This codec provides the best sound quality of all other codecs at bitrates over 96kb/s, and much better than MP3 at any bitrate.  Most listeners listening to quality 3 or higher should find it difficult to tell the difference from the original CD.  It is a patent free and open source codec.  The other 3 codecs are proprietary.  Media player support is very high in Windows, Linux, and Mac.

Ogg Vorbis Disadvantages:  Although many media players support playing Ogg Vorbis streams, many browsers do not.  AAC+ provides better sound quality than Ogg Vorbis at bitrates of 80kb/s and lower.  HTML5 support is not supported on iOS devices or Internet Explorer/Edge.

In Summary:  If you can afford the higher cost of streaming in MP3 at a higher bitrate, this is the best codec to use currently for browser support across all computers and devices.
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Which bitrate should I choose?

The answer depends on which codec you decide to use, your budget, and how good you want the audio to sound to your listeners.

High Quality

 
AAC+ (HE-AAC) 128 kb/s
MP3 320 kb/s

Here

Good Quality

 
AAC+ (HE-AAC) 64 kb/s
MP3 128 kb/s

Here is a list of lower bitrates which provide reasonable sound quality that is still very pleasant to listen to.

Medium Quality

 
AAC+ (HE-AAC) 32 kb/s
MP3 64 kb/s (mono)

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How do I have my stream play from my website?

We will supply you with a URL that will play your stream in a web browser.  This can be implemented as a small popup web page from you existing website.   You may also copy/paste the html code and use it in your webpage.  This may require a website developer.
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How can I display what song is playing on my website?

This depends on the player software you are using and whether it supports this feature.  Refer to the software documentation for details regarding website integration.

Our automation/player software, StationPlaylist Studio, supports creating an HTML, XML, or text file at every change of track, and either uploading it to a web server via FTP, or directly access Studio's built-in web server.  This can be displayed or utilized on a web page.  Previous and next tracks to play can also be displayed.

Studio can also send track information in a URL to a server side script on a website.

You may need to hire a website developer to integrate now playing information into your website.
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